


words as sharp as a knife blade

by prettylittlepasha



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Borderlands - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Friends fighting, Gen, Spoilers, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 18:22:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4635519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prettylittlepasha/pseuds/prettylittlepasha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys and Yvette have a screaming match as they leave Helios</p>
            </blockquote>





	words as sharp as a knife blade

**Author's Note:**

> sooo, after talking to the girlfriend about how horrible the truth about yvette's betrayal in episode four is we got to talking about how if they sat down and had to talk to each other that it'd be an absolute screaming match.
> 
> so i may have written a snippet of that out. part of yvette's dialogue is written by my [girlfriend](http://archiveofourown.org/users/EnsignCelery/pseuds/EnsignCelery) who also beta'd this(and everything else) for me so giant thanks to her for that~

The screaming match starts as soon as they make it off of Helios on the caravan.

Rhys had grabbed Yvette’s arm and pulled her along in the mad rush to get far, far away from the space station that he once so fondly called home.

“Just what the _fuck did you think you were doing, Rhys?_ ” Yvette’s voice was sharper than he’d ever heard it before, something vicious that could cut through the thickest of metals with ease. He looked up to meet her harsh glare and hates, hates, _hates_ the way it stabs at his heart.

“Oh, I don’t know Yvette, I think we did the only thing we could do! Try to stop Jack from gaining control over Pandora again from a much more powerful standpoint.” He grasps the bars that hold him in place against the lack of gravity in space, resolutely keeping eye contact with the woman that is—or _was_ one of his best friends. He doesn’t know what they are anymore.

“Whatever, at least what I did was the only option we had available at the time to fix this mess. At least _I_ didn’t willingly betray my _friends_ to some corporate asshat with bad hair implants,” Rhys continues with a sharp twist contorting his features. He can’t ever remember a time being so angry at someone he cares about.

"I thought you were _dead_. I thought _both of you_ were dead. What was I supposed to do, huh? Break down and cry? You can't do that here, you can't show weakness like that! So I did what I could to survive; I made a deal, and I started doing my best to get as close to you as I could, even if you were dead." There is a muscle jumping in Yvette’s jaw from how hard she had clenched it, her eyes shine with unspoken emotion, something that he couldn’t even begin to analyze, something burning with righteous indignation that he doesn’t want to linger on too long. His own sense of betrayal not allowing him to.

“I don’t know Yvette, maybe you could have had some _goddamned faith in your best friends!_ We have a Loader Bot—that you gave us to help us stay alive in case you forgot—and we were well on our way to finding a Vault! We were gonna come back, we were _always_ gonna come back for you. You could have answered your _fucking comm,_ or tried to call me, it’s not like I have a fucking computer in my head that’s always on or anything. _We were so worried about you Yvette._ ” Rhys _knows_ that there are tears in his eyes but absolutely refuses to let them fall, not now, not because Yvette handed him and Vaughn over to fucking _Vasquez_ on a silver platter.

Yvette crosses her arms and turns away, refuses to look at him and goddammit if that doesn’t just piss him off even more. What right does she have to be so angry at him? Two can play at that game. Rhys grits his teeth and digs his fingers into his knee to try and ground himself in anything but the broiling anger that courses through him.

The caravan is dead silent for a brief moment, everyone else too afraid to say anything into the momentary pause in the screaming between the two friends.

Yvette cuts a look at him, glances around at the others in the caravan, her eyes narrowing as she asks, “Where the hell is Vaughn?”

Rhys meets her eyes and steels himself for what he’s sure to be another disastrous screaming match. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t _know?!_ ”

“Hmmm, let’s see, one would assume that a sentence constructed as such—” a shoe flies into the wall right next to his head stopping him dead in his tracks.

“Oh, don’t patronize me you unbelievable jackass!”

“Well, excuse me but how do I even know you give a shit about where Vaughn is? _I’m_ not the one who sold him out.” Rhys takes a sick pleasure he knows that he shouldn’t at the hurt look that crosses Yvette’s face at the accusation.

“But for your information Vaughn is fine, he’s hiding out back on Pandora with a friend.”

“Vaughn’s okay?” Sasha’s voice cuts into the silence that followed Rhys’ words, a hopeful tone lighting up her voice. “How do you know?”

Rhys looks over to her, the first time he’s paid any attention to anyone in the caravan outside of Yvette and feels a twist of shame in his gut. He sees Fiona glance at him out of the corner of her eye from the driver’s seat, her eyes questioning, as curious—as hopeful too, maybe—as Sasha sounds.

“He called me while we were up on Helios. He’s hiding out with Cassius. The connection was shitty so I couldn’t get much out of him, but I’m betting the old guy took him to one of his hideouts in that forest biome. I’m sure he’ll be okay; Vaughn’s a lot tougher than he looks. You guys shoulda seen how he got the jump on Vallory before.” He offers with a bit of a forced smile, worry still coiling tightly in his chest at the thought of his best friend hiding who knows where on Pandora.

When he looks back at Yvette there is something burning in her face. Whether it’s rage, or shame, or something else altogether Rhys couldn’t say. He used to be so good at reading his friends, after years spent planning out their futures together. He doesn’t know what they’re going to do after this, if their friendship can survive Yvette actually betraying him and Vaughn—boy, he is _really_ not looking forward to explaining all of this to Vaughn—or if they even want to see if their friendship can survive this.

For the first time in years he has no idea what his future with Vaughn and Yvette holds.

For the first time in years he’s scared to see what the future holds for them all.

**Author's Note:**

> also jsyk this is not a piece of the polyperion snippets series i have going on.


End file.
